Last week, the five Republican partisans who control the U.S. Supreme
Court were all about protecting American "liberties" against the threat
of compulsory broccoli purchases. This week, they are defending the
rights of prison guards to strip-search a nun arrested in an anti-war
protest or a black guy who got nabbed by mistake for not paying a fine
that he had actually paid.

But the Court's strip-search ruling on Monday was more about the
future than the past. One could almost see the GOP Five rubbing their
hands together at the prospect of mass strip-searches of young men and
women arrested for challenging corporate greed in Occupy protests.
Perhaps the justices would like to take a page from Rush Limbaugh's
playbook and suggest the videos be posted online so they could watch.

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"Every detainee who will be admitted to the general population may be
required to undergo a close visual inspection while undressed," wrote
Justice Anthony Kennedy for the Republican majority.

Of course, the justices don't expect that they and their powerful
friends would ever be subjected to such humiliation. That's more for the
lesser beings -- or those with lesser money -- especially those who find
themselves disproportionately tossed into America's massive prison
system: the poor, the minorities and the protesters.

The GOP Five's 5-4 ruling was so extreme that it even caused the
usually solicitous New York Times to note that "the procedures endorsed
by the majority are forbidden by statute in at least 10 states and are
at odds with the policies of federal authorities. According to a ... brief
filed by the American Bar Association, international human rights
treaties also bar the procedures."

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What the GOP Five's ruling means for average Americans is that they
can have their private parts and body cavities inspected by prison
guards after arrests for even the most non-violent of charges, such as
"violating a leash law, driving without a license and failing to pay
child support," the Times reported.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer noted in his dissenting opinion
that people have been subjected to "the humiliation of a visual
strip-search" after getting arrested for a noisy muffler, not using a
turn signal and not having a proper bell on a bicycle. Breyer also noted
that a nun was strip-searched after getting arrested for trespassing in
an anti-war protest.

But the GOP Five would have none of that human rights stuff,
continuing with their disconnected logic to reach rulings that fit their
ideological bent. For instance, Justice Kennedy noted that "one of the
terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attacks was stopped and ticketed for
speeding just two days before hijacking Flight 93."

What the prejudicial 9/11 reference had to do with strip-searching
someone whose dog runs off leash or whose bicycle bell doesn't work
might not be readily apparent to anyone who doesn't spend the day
watching Fox News -- unless Kennedy thinks that strip-searching everyone
who gets a speeding ticket might prevent another 9/11.

The Naked Plaintiff

Albert W. Florence, the African-American plaintiff who lost in the
Supreme Court's ruling, was subjected to two strip searches in 2005
after his wife, April, was pulled over for speeding. Though Florence was
in the passenger seat, he was arrested when a police records search
discovered an outstanding warrant against him for an unpaid fine (which
had actually been paid).

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Before the clerical error was corrected, Florence was detained for a
week, held in two jails which each required a strip search. He was
forced to stand naked in front of a guard who made him lift his penis
and testicles so they could be examined. Then, Florence said, he was
ordered to turn around, squat cough and spread his cheeks to expose his
anus.

The GOP Five claimed the extensive use of strip searches was
necessary to provide security in the nation's massive prison complex,
which holds millions of detainees. But strip searches also would give
authorities a powerful psychological weapon to use against protesters,
like those who have participated in Occupy Wall Street and related
demonstrations around the country.

The GOP Five's latest ruling also undercuts their posturing last week
during hearings on the Affordable Care Act when they presented
themselves as principled defenders of American "liberties" by signaling a
readiness to strike down the individual health insurance mandate at the
center of a law aimed at providing near universal health-care coverage
for Americans.

During those oral arguments, Republican justices demanded that U.S.
Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. define a "limiting principle"
to the Constitution's Commerce Clause (though the Framers included none
when they wrote the document in 1787). Justice Antonin Scalia wondered
if Congress also could mandate that Americans buy broccoli; Justice
Samuel Alito worried about burial insurance.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at
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